Abstract
BackgroundThe Alcohol Toolkit Study (ATS) is a monthly survey of approximately 1700 adults per month aged 16 years of age or more in England. We aimed to explore patterns of alcohol consumption and motivation to reduce alcohol use in England throughout the year.MethodsData from 38,372 participants who answered questions about alcohol consumption (March 2014 to January 2016) were analysed using weighted regression using the R survey package. Questions assessed alcohol consumption (AUDIT-C) and attempts to reduce consumption.ResultsSixty-seven percent of participants reported using alcohol, with a small negative trend of about 2 % reduction over 12 months in the studied period (P < 0.01). These include ~25 % higher risk drinkers and ~10 % regular binge drinkers. About 20 % of higher risk drinkers indicated they were attempting to reduce their alcohol consumption. Attempts were lowest in December (−20 %; 95 % CI 0–35 %), but increases significantly in January (+41 %; 95 % CI 16–73 %) compared with other months (P < 0.001), indicating a small net gain; at least in attempts to reduce. However, there was no evidence that the increased motivation in January was accompanied by a reported decrease in consumption or binge drinking events. This could be an artefact of the use of AUDIT questions, but could also reflect a disconnect between attempting to reduce alcohol consumption and subsequent change; maybe as a result of lack of continuing support.ConclusionsJanuary is associated with moderate increased attempts to reduce alcohol consumption. However, we find little evidence of a change in alcohol consumption. In part, this may be due to temporal insensitivity of the AUDIT questions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3542-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The Alcohol Toolkit Study (ATS) is a monthly survey of approximately 1700 adults per month aged 16 years of age or more in England
There is a paucity of information about motivation and attempts to reduce alcohol consumption, and no data are available about temporal patterns in these
A total of 38,624 participants were interviewed in 23 months that the ATS has been running of which 38,372 provided data on alcohol consumption (99 %)
Summary
The Alcohol Toolkit Study (ATS) is a monthly survey of approximately 1700 adults per month aged 16 years of age or more in England. Prior to the actual reduction in consumption, a willingness to change resulting in an actual attempt to reduction has to be apparent and this has to remain long enough to facilitate behavioural change It has been shown in primary care patients with unhealthy alcohol use that motivation to change can lead to reduced consumption [11], and that this motivation is not necessarily accompanied by actual change in consumption [12]. There is a paucity of information about motivation and attempts to reduce alcohol consumption, and no data are available about temporal patterns in these. Data on the association between attempts to change and actual measureable changes in alcohol consumption are important in order to evaluate the effect of interventions aimed at making people reduce their consumption and further indicate the need to improve the theory behind population-level intervention programmes
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